Barton Peveril student comes third in computing challenge at Oxford University

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Talented student Patrick Winter from Barton Peveril Sixth Form College came third in his age group in a UK-wide computing competition – The UK BEBRAS Computational Thinking Challenge – held at the Department of Computer Science at Oxford University on 27 January.

Patrick Winter receiving his third place certificate from Peter Millican, Professor at Hertford College, University of Oxford

Coming third in the competition is an impressive achievement, as 5,174 students entered the first round of the Elite age group category (years 12 & 13), and 43 top-achieving students took part in the final at Oxford for the Elite age group. Patrick was presented with his third place certificate at a prize-giving ceremony at Hertford College.

Patrick Winter (formerly of Thornden School) reflected on his prize: “Finishing third in the national competition came as a great surprise; it is an achievement I am incredibly proud of. I am already looking forward to entering the competition once again next year”

Patrick added; “The whole experience was brilliant, I particularly enjoyed visiting Oxford University and taking a look around. I would like to continue my studies within the STEM disciplines and have ambitions of becoming an Oxbridge student.”

Samuel Barkes (formerly of Wyvern College) also represented Barton Peveril qualifying as one of the 43 finalists.

The UK BEBRAS Computational Thinking Challenge, supported by Google, is designed to get students excited about computing and computational thinking. It is a problem-solving contest with questions inspired by topics in computer science. In the first round, held in their own schools, students have to try and solve as many problems as possible in the allotted time. There are six age categories. The highest scoring students from the four oldest age groups (Elite, Senior, Junior and Intermediate) were then invited to the Department of Computer Science at Oxford for the finals over two weekends in January and February.